Former grocery store may be torn down
Jan. 25—GOSHEN — A former grocery store on Oakridge Avenue may be torn down.
At their Thursday meeting the Goshen Board of Public Works considered tearing down a building at 304 W. Oakridge Ave.
The owner, Ramon Navarro, said he believes his parents opened the grocery store in about 1989, but eventually, it was moved to a larger location and used the Oakridge Avenue property for storage. The store and the home next door where his parents live, are both owned by Navarro, along with another nearby lot, on one mortgage.
The specific name of the grocery store was not mentioned at the meeting.
Navarro explained that he bought the property from his parents in 2022 when his father was diagnosed with cancer. He moved back to Goshen from Missouri when his father got sick to spend time with him.
"It was the best decision I made because I was able to spend the last few weeks of his life with him, but then I came back and there was no work available," he said.
The property was in a state of disarray by the time Navarro moved back to Goshen and has only continued to become more blighted, but Navarro was also falling behind on the mortgage payments with no work to be found. Navarro affirmed to the board that he believes the property needs work, but he's been in bankruptcy since before the inspection was done and the parcel and the lot associated with it, are part of the bankruptcy report.
Following an inspection Oct. 24, Goshen Residential Building Inspector Travis Eash told the board that while he found many violations on the property, the most severe was foundation collapse causing sidewalk and driveway collapse. The property has also suffered floor sagging due to improper support and is unsafe to walk in. There are no working plumbing, electrical, or heating systems; windows are broken, and bricks on the chimney are breaking off. The complaint, he said, came from city employees doing work nearby.
"It's not that I don't want to fix this stuff, it's that I financially can't," Navarro said. He told the board he did get estimates that the wall repair could cost about $64,000 but tearing down the property would cost around $32,000.
"I'm not sure what options are available," Navarro said. "Even if the city knocks it down and tries to charge it back, I'm in bankruptcy so it's not like the money is going to be seen for, I don't know how long."
Navarro said he even reached out to his mortgage company about selling that parcel of the property before it was brought to the city's attention, but they would not break it up. That was before the bankruptcy.
"If I'm not using it, I'd rather figure out a way to get out of this sooner, rather than later," he said.
City officials said they weren't aware of the bankruptcy on the property and aren't sure how it might impact any action they take.
The board agreed to continue the hearing to Feb. 22 to allow the legal department more time to figure it out.
Other items the board approved include:
* The resignation of Goshen Police Officer Guadalupe Mendoza Rivera and also of Goshen Firefighter Timothy Perry;
* Board of Works member Barb Swartley was given the Oath of Office. Other board members were read the Oath of Office during the Jan. 11 meeting, which Swartley did not attend;
* Conflict of interest disclosures for Brett Weddell and Megan Peel were acknowledged during the Thursday meeting as part of the Community Development Block Grant due to their connections with LaCasa, which receives CBDG funding. Weddell, a Goshen city councilman, serves on LaCasa's board of directors. Peel, also a council member, works for LaCasa as Development and Communications Manager;
* The board approved a request from LaCasa for a roll-off dumpster in the street parking in from of The Hattle Apartments, 210 E. Lincoln Ave, as they continue demolition and reconstruction of the building's basement. The request was retroactive to Jan. 22 and will remain on site for a few weeks;
* A quiet zone years in the making is finally being pushed forward. The board approved a request to sign the C.R. 42 Marion Line railroad crossing delegation letter with Goshen Mayor Gina Leichty as the delegatee. The county will also have to authorize someone to sign the Federal Railroad Association's quiet zone application;
* The board approved an agreement with BlueConduit for $51,000 for consulting services and predictive modeling to help identify probable locations of lead service lines. The goal of the agreement is to minimize the number of physical surveys city works have to do to complete inventory. The city hopes the modeling will also increase the chances of obtaining a state grant of up to $300,000 for the project;
* The board approved a request to have Abonmarche Consulting evaluate the Herman Street Sewer for $7,500. Goshen Engineer Dustin Sailor explained that the grinder station has had the pump replaced multiple times, but it continues to run erratically. While he said they think they know what the problem is, they'd like a third party to evaluate it and selected Abonmarche, and;
* The board also approved an agreement with Central Industrial Contractors, Inc. for $45,738 to replace a failed sewer control valve at the Goshen Waste Water Treatment Plant and increase the height of the valve structure to prevent flooding. The 40-inch valve required for the project, Sailor said, is more than city staff can handle.